386. 1. Two universal atmospheres emanate from the Lord to preserve the universe in its created state, one of which is an atmosphere of procreating, and the other an atmosphere of protecting what has been procreated. We call the Divinity emanating from the Lord an atmosphere, because it goes out from Him, surrounds Him, fills both worlds - the spiritual and the natural - and brings about the effects of the ends which the Lord ordained at creation and which He subsequently provides.

Everything that flows out from an object, surrounds it and envelops it, is called an atmosphere. As, for example, the atmosphere of light and heat from the sun around it; the atmosphere of life from a person around him; the atmosphere of aroma from a shrub around it; the atmosphere of attraction from a magnet around it; and so on.

[2] But the universal atmospheres which we are discussing here are from the Lord around Him; and they emanate from the sun of the spiritual world, at whose center He is. From the Lord through that sun emanates an atmosphere of warmth and light, or to say the same thing, an atmosphere of love and wisdom, to bring about ends which are of use. However, that atmosphere is designated by various names according to the uses it serves. The Divine atmosphere in regard to the preservation of the universe in its created state by successive generations, is called an atmosphere of procreating; and the Divine atmosphere in regard to the preservation of those generations in their beginnings and afterwards in their advances, is called an atmosphere of protecting what has been procreated.

In addition to these two, there are a number of other Divine atmospheres, which are named according to the uses they serve, having thus various names, as may be seen above in no. 222. Effectuations of useful ends by means of these atmospheres are Divine providence.

434. 9. There is an atmosphere of licentious love, and an atmosphere of conjugial love. What we mean by atmospheres, and the fact that they are multiple, also that those atmospheres which have to do with love and wisdom emanate from the Lord, descend through the angelic heavens into the world, and pervade it even to the lasts of it - this we showed earlier in nos. 222-225 and nos. 386-397.

Since there is nothing in the universe which does not have its opposite (see above, no. 425), it follows on that ground that, because there is an atmosphere of conjugial love, there is also an atmosphere opposite to it, which we call an atmosphere of licentious love; for those atmospheres are opposed to each other, as the love of adultery is opposed to the love of marriage - an opposition which we have described in the preceding discussions of this chapter.

387. 2. These two universal atmospheres ally themselves with an atmosphere of conjugial love and with an atmosphere of love for little children. It is apparent that an atmosphere of conjugial love is allied with the atmosphere of procreating; for procreation is the end, and conjugial love the intermediate cause by which it is effected; and in producing effects and in the effects produced, the end and the cause are united because they work together. It is also apparent that an atmosphere of love for little children is allied with the atmosphere of protecting what has been procreated, because this is an end arising from the previous end, which was procreation, and a love of little children is its intermediate cause, by which it is effected. For ends progress in series, one after another, and as they progress the last end in one series becomes the first end in the next, and so on, until they reach their goal, in which they stop or terminate. But on this subject, more will be seen in the explanation of heading 12.